in the cellar
Just a Blending Grape?
Jason Burrus
On more than one occasion, a visitor at the winery asks me,
“Isn’t Cabernet Franc just a blending grape?” I cringe every
time. Where in the psyche of the connoisseur is the idea born
that some wine-grape varieties are relegated to lowly blending
status? The fact is, all wine-grape varieties are blending grapes.
It is only a recent phenomenon that a wine is labeled to reflect
its predominant variety and not its place of origin. As a result,
celebrities of the wine world were born: Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Chardonnay. Anything else was just a blending grape.
Though rather obscure to the American wine drinker, Cabernet
Franc has an illustrious past. The famous French ampelographer
Pierre Galet recounts how this ancient Bordeaux variety spread
to the Loire Valley, likely in the 17th century. It was planted
there by an abbot named Breton, a name that stands today as a
local synonym for Cabernet Franc. The pedigree of grapevines
is often lost in history, but technology can sometimes fill in the
gaps. In 1997, scientists in the department of Viticulture and
Enology at the University of California at Davis produced DNA
evidence to confirm that Cabernet Franc and the white variety
Sauvignon Blanc are the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon. Before
this, it was thought that Cabernet Franc was the progeny of
Cabernet Sauvignon.
Today Cabernet Franc is most known for its role in the wines of
Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. In Bordeaux, it is commonly a
10 to 20 percent component of its red wines. Two well-known
exceptions are wines from Chateaux Ausone and Cheval Blanc,
the only two wineries to receive the highest Saint-Émilion classification of premier grand cru classé A. Here, Cabernet Franc
is present as a 50 percent component (with Merlot). In Loire, it
is the most planted red variety and is often the only variety in
the wines of the Saumur-Champigny, Bourgueil, St. Nicolas-deBourgueil, and Chinon regions of Loire. While not commanding
the superstar prices of today’s Bordeaux, Loire Cabernet Francs
are some of the most respected wines of France.
Its largest foothold outside of France is likely in Italy, especially in the northeast part of the country in the Veneto and
Friuli regions. As in Loire, Italian wines are stand-alone wines
where Cabernet Franc is the dominant variety. However, recent
examination has revealed that much of what was thought to be
Cabernet Franc there is actually Carmenère, another Bordeaux
variety with characteristics similar to Cabernet Franc. Small
pockets of Cabernet Franc are found in southeastern Europe
as well as most other developed winemaking regions of the
world. In New World winemaking regions, plantings are usually
designated for the purpose blending in Meritage-style wines.
Of notable exception is, of course, Cabernet Franc’s presence
in Virginia and along the East Coast as far north as Canada.
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• Harvest 2008
Cabernet Franc is
prospering in Virginia’s
climate and gaining fans.
East Coast Cabernet Franc is unique in that, in many cases, it is
destined as a stand-alone wine, like those of France’s Loire.
Cabernet Franc’s newfound home here was not an accident.
The European grape (Vitis vinifera) originated along the Mediterranean and in the Middle East, areas that experience warm
winters and dry summers. Most V. vinifera varieties thus are
fickle when transplanted out of this climate. Thomas Jefferson experienced this firsthand in his infamously unsuccessful
attempt at growing the European grape here in Virginia. With
time and experience, though, we are discovering which varieties can withstand the East Coast’s viticultural threats.
Cabernet Franc is one such variety suitable for our continental
climate. It is especially cold-hardy, surviving frigid winters with
constant below-freezing temperatures. It also ripens relatively
early for a red Bordeaux variety, easily two weeks earlier than
Cabernet Sauvignon. In our climate, this can make a world
of difference. It is not surprising then that Cabernet Franc has
found homes in the Loire Valley and northeast Italy, regions
typically too cold for many red wine-grape varieties. In Virginia,
the issue is not imminent cold weather during ripening but
rather excessive rain and humidity, which can exacerbate the
looming threat of rot. Thus a head start in ripening is a clear
advantage over other varieties.
Why has America not bestowed celebrity status on Cabernet
Franc? At its best it makes a wine similar to that of Merlot, robust
and brimming with berry flavors. With typically less tannin and
more obvious aromatics, it can be enjoyed with less age than
Cabernet Sauvignon. America became familiar with fine wine
as Bordeaux was ascending the ladder of prominence in the
international wine scene, and Cabernet Sauvignon was the
dominant player in many of its examples. Loire Valley reds never
struck a chord with Americans. In unripe vintages its wines were
thin and vegetal. Even in ripe years its wines had a focused acidity that was never appreciated by the American palate.
If Cabernet Franc is ever to gain ground with critics and consumers in the United States, it must be able to compete with
the red wine celebrities of California, notably Cabernet Sauvignon. Therefore East Coast examples of Cabernet Franc are
often made in the ripe, fruit-forward, oaky style of their West
Coast counterparts. Whether this is wise direction, or whether
measuring up to California reds is at all possible, for Cabernet
Franc remains to be seen. And whether Cabernet Franc can
highlight Virginia as world-class winemaking region is also a
work in progress. It is a question 220 years in the making.
Jason Burrus is the winemaker for Rappahannock Cellars in Huntly.
His Cabernet Franc won the Best of Category award and a double-gold
medal at the 2008 San Francisco International Wine Competition.
As seen in Flavor Magazine, Fall 2008 • flavormags.com